Heat of the Moment (Moment of Truth #1) by Lauren Barnholdt

A while ago I read Lauren Barnholdt’s novel Through to You and it’s fair to say we did not get along. When I saw this go up on Edelweiss, I requested it before I realised who the author was. Big mistake. Instead I decided to give it a good go and I made it nearly 50% through the book, but the absurdity of it affected my enjoyment massively and I couldn’t go on any longer.

So, when Lyla was 14 she, along with her two best friends, wrote herself an email telling herself that she needed to learn to trust. This email was set to send before graduation. When Lyla gets the email, she is on her way to a Florida school trip and it makes Lyla question everything; her relationship with her boyfriend, her falling out with her two best friends, and the school player, Beckett. This series also consists of another two books, each from the perspective of Lyla two ex-best friends Aven and Quinn as they deal with their emails, too. Interesting concept, but it failed. It’s a shame, because the covers are lovely.

The amount of times she mentioned her virginity and having sex was absurd. It is literally all she talked about for 43% of the novel – whether it gets better, I don’t know and I don’t want to know. The main reason why I could not finish this was, firstly, the lack of logic, and the fact that I could not stand Lyla. She is shallow, judgemental and sex obsessed. Just take a look at this quote:

“It just seemed so unfair for Quinn to have those gorgeous eyes when she wasn’t even interested in boys. All she was interested in was school. And getting into Stanford.

So Quinn is not allowed to be pretty because she is more interested in getting an education? I can’t even…

The author tried very hard to make sure Lyla ended up in the presence of Mr. Biceps, aka Beckett. It didn’t feel realistic, it felt stilted and forced as did the dialogue.

Overall, I was not impressed by Heat of the Moment, and I think Barnholdt is an author I will have to avoid in the future because we do not seem to get along.